Intellectual Freedom News 10/20/17
October 20, 2017 – Collated by OIF Staff and News Interns
Intellectual Freedom Highlights
- The KRACK attacks and libraries | OIF Choose Privacy Week; “Earlier this week Mathy Vanhoef of the imec-DistriNet research group at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven announced his discovery of a set of related vulnerabilities in WPA2, a protocol used to encrypt communications over wireless networks. KRACK, as Vanhoef dubbed the vulnerability, expands to Key Reinstallation Attacks. […] To avoid the potential for interference with library networks or snooping on patrons’ online activity, libraries can take the following steps to mitigate the risk.”
- Banned in Biloxi – What can you do to save To Kill a Mockingbird? | Intellectual Freedom Blog; “Biloxi Public Schools have been reticent in explaining who complained about the book, what the complaint was, whether they followed district policy, and what the replacement instructional material is. Sources deny that any committee was convened or alternate choices offered. It was just a decision by the superintendent, which is a clear violation of district policy.”
Censorship
- A book ban like no other | Literacy & NCTE
- Groups object to alleged ‘removal’ of controversial book from AHS curriculum | The Telegraph
- Why did Biloxi pull ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ from the 8th grade lesson plan? | Sun Herald (MS)
- Parent who complained about ‘Mockingbird’ speaks out at school board meeting | Sun Herald (MS)
- Did Biloxi follow its own policy when pulling ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’? | Sun Herald (MS)
- Superintendent cuts interview short when asked about pulling ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ | Sun Herald (MS)
- ACLU of Mississippi defends freedom to read ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ after Biloxi school ban | WNGO (LA)
- To ban books (such as ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’) is to turn away from history | Washington Examiner
- Why are we still teaching ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ in schools? | NBC News
- Leonard Pitts: Throw the book at folks who would pull ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ from classroom | Press Herald (ME)
- Freedom of speech groups slam removal of ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ from Mississippi School | Newsweek
- Why ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ keeps getting banned | History.com
- ‘Black-ish’ star Deon Cole ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ ban: ‘Sorry ass attempt to wipe our history” | TMZ
- The ironic enduring legacy of banning To Kill a Mockingbird for racist language | Washington Post
- ‘Uncomfortable’ language gets To Kill a Mockingbird pulled from Mississippi schools | Russia Today
- Banned in Biloxi, ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ raises old censorship debate | USA Today
- ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ removed from reading list; residents react | WLOX (MS)
- Banning ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ teaches students the wrong lesson – to fear mere words | Fox News
- School assignment on the ‘N-word’ angers parents | 12 News (Adventures of Huckleberry Finn)
- Long Beach library hosts Drag Queen Story Hour, controversy ensues | Press Telegram
- Residents divided over LGBT library display | TDT News (TX)
- ‘Banned’ books at St. Mary’s library draw ire of parents | The Enterprise (MD)
Privacy
- ALA files comments to Department of Homeland Security to protest plans to monitor and collect immigrants’ social media information | District Dispatch
- Senate Intelligence Committee to debate in secret a bill that would renew a powerful spy tool | Washington Post
- Researchers uncover flaw that makes Wi-Fi vulnerable to hacks | Reuters
- Justices to Decide on Forcing Technology Firms to Provide Data Held Abroad | New York Times
- U.S. Department of Education launches new student privacy website | Lexology
- How “Big Data” Went Bust | Slate
- How these librarians are changing how we think about digital privacy | Christian Science Monitor
- Levy details our intimate relationship with surveillance | IAPP
- Replacing Social Security Numbers won’t be easy, but It’s worth it | Wired
See this week’s additional privacy news and updates on the Choose Privacy Week blog.
Access
- Reduced online access to federal scientific information is diminishing democracy | Sunlight Foundation
- The White House says it doesn’t keep a list of Mar-a-Lago visitors. Experts and visitors are skeptical. | ProPublica
- UNESCO withdrawal will slow progress on global library initiatives | American Libraries
- Conflict mounts inside voting fraud commission in the wake of child porn arrest | ProPublica
- Second federal district judge issues preliminary injunction on Muslim Ban 3.0 | Constitutional Law Prof Blog
Hate Speech & Libraries
- Catonsville immigration forum canceled after threats of protests | Baltimore Sun
Free Press, Social Media, and Fake News
- The Future of Truth and Misinformation Online | Pew Research Center
- Sessions declines ‘blanket’ assurance to not jail journalists | The Hill
- U.S. lawmakers want regulation of Facebook, Twitter political ads | NASDAQ
- Senators Demand Online Ad Disclosures as Tech Lobby Mobilizes | New York Times
- Facebook allowed questionable ads in German election despite warnings | ProPublica
- Facebook political ad collector | ProPublica
- Presidential pining for censorship hurts the country | Washington Examiner
Net Neutrality and Broadband Access
Academic Freedom/ Campus Speech
- How to Respond to Richard Spencer | The New York Times
- World watching University of Florida’s response to Richard Spencer’s hate speech | Sun Sentinel (FL)
- Governor declares emergency tied to white nationalist’s planned speech at U. of Florida | Chronicle of Higher Education
- Richard Spencer’s visit is not required by the First Amendment | The Independent Florida Alligator
- White nationalist to control which journalists cover Florida ‘free speech’ event | The Guardian
- What if unrepentant racist Richard Spencer gave a speech and nobody came? | Fox News
- In photos: Demonstrators march at UF as Richard Spencer speaks | WUFT-FM (FL)
- Heckling is a staple of controversial campus speeches. Should colleges intervene? | Chronicle of Higher Education
- Does disruption violate free speech? | Chronicle of Higher Education
- Academic freedom in the age of Trump | Moyers & Company
- Safe spaces are fine, but students must also be brave | Times Higher Education
- Grad student sounds alarms over Penn’s response to online attacks | Chronicle of Higher Education
- UBC defends right to academic freedom amid furor over vaccine study | The Globe & Mail (Canada)
- Suppression of academic freedom a ‘global crisis’ | Chemistry World
- Academic Freedom Reconsidered | Inside Higher Education
First Amendment Issues
- Justice Holmes’s Free-Speech Lesson | Wall Street Journal
- Our Opinion: Require schools to teach freedom, not censorship | Wilson Times (NC)
- ‘Put the camera down’: Covering protests has become the riskiest job in journalism | Columbia Journalism Review
- Trump’s First Amendment fight emblematic of nationwide problem | Toledo Blade (OH)
- The First Amendment receives a C+ in Fall report | Newseum Institute
Around the Web
- Millennials don’t fear censorship because they plan on doing all the censoring | Spectator
- “Banned” in a functional sense | Albany Times Union (NY); “So the Times Union may not have INTENDED to suppress Heather’s piece. But by locking her out of her page, and being slow in communicating with her why, it effectively accomplished the same thing. And she’s going away, which is a shame.”
- Book Review: The Soul of the First Amendment | Intellectual Freedom Blog
- Goosebumps and censorship | Intellectual Freedom Blog
- Racist, violent, unpunished: A white hate group’s campaign of menace | ProPublica
- “American Born Chinese” Opens Windows and Shines Mirrors | School Library Journal
- YA Novel About “Mob Mentalities” Punished After Online Backlash | Slate; “The sudden and unusual decision to remove a review for emergency “evaluation” was shrouded in mystery. The reviewer remains anonymous, and Smith declined to elaborate on the decision process or what prompted the reevaluation. In an email, he referred to specific elements of the review that Kirkus found “problematic,” particularly “some reductive wording and the omission of a clear callout that the Muslim character is portrayed exclusively through the filter of a white protagonist.” (Online, some critics had bristled at the review’s reference to Sadaf as a “disillusioned immigrant.”) He added that while Kirkus values “audience feedback” and responds to “oversights” with correction, “we do not bend to peer pressure or cultural criticism.””
- Top 10 books in 2016 most challenged in schools and libraries. No. 9 is a series written by Bill Cosby. | Washington Post
- Mississippians can read so don’t come for us on Twitter, residents tell famous author | Sun Herald (FL)
- Philip Pullman has made a career building new worlds. He’s not done yet | Time
International Issues
- Propaganda and censorship are reaching fever pitch on the eve of China’s big leadership reshuffle | Time
- A lighter, softer censorship in Vietnam | Asia Times
- Turkey: Artistic freedom or self-censorship | Deuche Welle
- Censorship battle and an antisemitic charge cause anger | The Guardian
- UK spy agencies may be circumventing data-sharing law, tribunal told | The Guardian
- Turkish cartoonists persist despite government crackdown | CBLDF
ALA News
- Submit Questions for ALA’s Hate Speech FAQ | As ALA moves into a second year of collecting reports of hate crimes in libraries, the Office for Intellectual Freedom will be creating a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) resource. We would really appreciate your help in creating a thorough and comprehensive document that will help educators, library staff, and trustees navigate this sensitive topic.
- ALA files comments to Department of Homeland Security
- Official 2017 Teens’ Top Ten titles announced
- ALA, EBSCO provide opportunity for five librarians to attend ALA Midwinter Meeting
- Intellectual freedom opportunities at the AASL National Conference | Knowledge Quest
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